Charles H. Walker

Charles H. Walker (September 5, 1828 – December 14, 1877) was an American lawyer, jurist, and legislator. A Democrat, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for two terms, 1856 and 1857, and was County Judge of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, from 1858 until 1862, when he resigned to volunteer for service as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War.

Early life and career

Walker was born in Tully, New York, in 1828. As a child, his family moved to Ohio, where he was educated. He graduated from Western Reserve College in Cleveland in 1850 and quickly moved west to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he studied law in the office of Frederick S. Lovell and was admitted to the bar.

In the Summer of 1854, he moved to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and engaged in a legal practice in partnership with George L. Lee, known as Lee & Walker.

Civil war service Walker resigned the judgeship in the summer of 1862 to volunteer for service in the American Civil War, responding to President Abraham Lincoln's urgent call for 300,000 volunteers. Walker organized a company of volunteers from Manitowoc and lead them into Camp Bragg

Kentucky and Tennessee campaign (Fall 1862) The 21st Wisconsin was ordered to proceed to Cincinnati for duty in the western theater of the war. They then crossed the Ohio River to Covington, Kentucky, where the regiment was issued their arms and organized into the brigade of General Philip Sheridan.

Also during this spring, the Army of the Cumberland had come under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman as he took overall command of the Union armies in the western theater of the war. In May 1864, Sherman's army set off on his Atlanta campaign and entered a series of battles and marches in rapid succession.

The 21st Wisconsin joined Sherman's flanking maneuver at the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, which forced the Confederate defenders to retreat to Resaca, Georgia, and joined the assault on Resaca on May 14, which forced the Confederates to retreat once again. But she died less than a year later. In 1870, he married Elizabeth "Libbie" Rouan (née Homer), of Sheboygan, with whom he had two sons.